Guide to Services 2014

53, Clumber Avenue
Mapperley
Nottingham
NG3 5JY
0115 9200714
[email protected]
Busdata
Computing
Services
GUIDE TO SERVICES
Revised 1-2-14
OUR AIM
Our aim is to provide you with the data you need about the buses and coaches of the
British Isles and Irish Republic and their operators. The operators include not just
those with PSV Licences (or equivalent status in the Irish republic) but dealers and
owners of non-PSV vehicles, caravans, preserved vehicles, minibuses etc.
SOURCES OF MATERIAL
When you buy a Busdata publication, you are not paying for the data it contains. It is
not “our” data. It is all visible on the road, originally derived from observations and
information gathered by many people. Some is submitted directly to us. Some is
derived from official sources. Some is published on the web, in magazines, in books
and other publications. Busdata contributors collect data from these many sources,
review it, make judgments based on the balance of evidence when sources differ and
submit it to our database.
What you are paying for is the direct cost of operating our services. Consumables,
postage, advertising, equipment replacement and the development cost of our
computer programs are the main elements involved.
CURRENCY
Our database is updated every few days. Your material is taken directly from it so is
as up to date as we can make it. The processes of reporting, collecting, entering and
reconciling the data do of course all take time. The ‘current' data on the database is
therefore normally a few weeks out of date for PSV operators and longer for other
classes of operator. However immediately after each update a very small proportion
of it might reflect very recent data indeed.
HISTORICAL DATA
Please note that we have only maintained full historical records since 1985. We do
have some earlier material on our database, but the further back in time it goes the
sketchier it becomes. We are happy to provide you with everything that we have, but
please be aware that it is very far from complete.
CODES
To print all data in full would take an enormous amount of space and make some of
our reports impossibly unwieldy for you to use. Much of the information is therefore
provided in coded form, e.g. Pn is used rather than the full ‘Plaxton’ to indicate that
bodymaker. A full list of the codes used is available as a separate document.
HOW DATA IS PRESENTED – BY BUSVIEW OR ON PAPER
We can supply the data to you in two ways.
BusView
BusView is a computer system which runs on your own computer. It gives you a
complete copy of our database, snapshotted onto a CD when we process your order.
To run BusView you install from this CD onto your computer, which must be working
under Microsoft Windows Version 98 or later. It must be capable of connection to the
internet because for security purposes BusView needs to do this. Every few days
when you start it up it will connect to the internet very briefly, then disconnect.
You can use BusView to display either the status at the time of snapshot or the full life
histories of individual vehicles and operators. It also enables you to see fleetlists of
operators as they are now or at any previous date. There are fuller fleetlists which
give a list of all the vehicles an operator has ever owned with dates in and out.
You can also use BusView to record notes of your photographs and sightings. You can
add fresh data to the records of vehicles and operators and create new records.
From BusView you can open windows on reference files which give you extracts of:All vehicles on the database sorted into the order of chassis maker and number.
All vehicles on the database sorted into the order of body maker and number.
All registrations on the database sorted into the equivalent of what for X123 MLN
style registrations is number order. All the 123s come together
All registrations on the database sorted into the equivalent of what for X123 MLN
style registrations is right hand letter order. All the MLNs come together
All names of operators on the database, whether current or not, sorted into name
order
All names of operators on the database sorted into name order by currency, class
and geography
Trading names of current operators, sorted into trading name order.
If you require more information about BusView, we can send you a Fact Sheet which
is also available on our website, or you can e-mail your queries to [email protected]
or write to us.
Printed Lists
If you prefer to work from paper, we provide lists printed on loose-leaf A4 paper. It is
not perforated or stapled, so you can choose your preferred filing method. It is
printed on both sides of the paper, in a reasonably large font so that you can read it
easily. For standard publications there is a wide margin at the right hand side of the
page for you to add your own notes. The paper used is heavy grade so that it will
stand up to your usage.
OVERVIEW OF PRINTED LISTS
We provide two types of publications
1. Standard. The format of these, our most popular publications which deal
mostly with currently active operators and vehicles, is fixed and described below.
When customer orders are processed, they are taken from the database as at its
last update. The resulting extracts for customers are therefore as fully up to date
as we can make them.
2. Customer Specified. We can produce reports exactly to the layout you need
in order to suit your own purposes. This service is based on the number of pages,
costing a little more than the standard publications.
Prices of all Standard Publications are shown on our Price List.
STANDARD PUBLICATIONS
There are four versions of most of the standard publications. The first distinction is
the level of detail which can be full or basic. The basic level gives vehicle registration,
chassis maker and type, body maker, seating, operator and fleetnumber. The full
version has further details including chassis and body numbers, dates and registration
histories. Because of the amount of data on each line, full detail reports are printed in
landscape format, i.e. with lines parallel to the long side of the page.
The second distinction is the range of vehicles included. Some of our customers have
no interest in minibuses of 16 seats and under unless they are owned by PSV class
operators. We therefore supply versions of our standard publications which do not
include these. They are shown as ‘PSV Plus’ in the Price List, as opposed to ‘All’.
Current Registrations By Year Letter (s)
These lists cover the registrations in the format issued since October 2001, e. g.
53/04 year period. They show the vehicles currently bearing these registrations which
are either in service or between operators. If you want similar lists for earlier
registration years we can produce them for you as Customer Specified Publications.
Basic Details
The registration is followed by vehicle details, status, operator and fleet number. If
vehicles have no current owner, the last owner’s short title is shown between square
brackets. If they have been scrapped, an asterisk precedes the opening bracket.
CN
CN
CN
CP
05
05
05
05
LCT
SVS
ULE
AEK
Vo
MB
LDV
Fd
B12BT
O814D
Cy
Tt
Bf
Cym
LDV
Fd
CH57/14CT
C29F
M16
M16
Baker, Weston-Super-Mare (SO) 68
Salec, Carbrooke (NK)
Star Cars, New Barnet (LN) 139
[Pilians, West Derby (MY)]
Full Details
In the example below, the normal column settings have been altered to fit the sample
data to this document
DK 54 GWL MB
413CDI
WDB9046632R695094
M16 12/04
ex AHZ 444 by2/09, DK 54 GWL 1/06
DK 54 GXU MB 311CDI
WDB9036632R664354
M8
9/04
DK 54 JPJ Tbs Dt SLF
SFD4D8ER34GW37814 EL Spr 51001 B43F 9/04
3/09
M&I Travel, Workington (CA)
9/04 x Williams R, Flint (CN)
9/04
Halton (CH) 48
As-New Registration Lists
The layout of these publications is identical to that of the current registration lists
described above.
They differ in that they give the details of all vehicles first registered in the year in
question as they were when they were first recorded rather than as they are now.
The registrations are the vehicles’ original ones (which may have been cherished
ones). The owners are those at the time of first registration. Please note that this is
not known for many minibuses in the ‘All’ version publications.
Cherished and Non-Standard Registrations
These publications cover the old style cherished and Northern Irish plates which tend
to be swopped frequently between vehicles so pose particular difficulties when
recording. Because so few minibuses carry them other than those of PSV operators,
these publications are only available in the ‘All’ versions.
Basic
This publication gives the present known holders of such registrations. In the
example below at time of writing PSU 315 is an ancillary Scania - Plaxton with First
Scotland East, PSU 316 is an Ayats with Galleon 2009, Roydon and PSU 317 is
another Scania-Plaxton last recorded as sold from Midland Bluebird.
PSU 315
PSU 316
PSU 317
Sca K113CRB
As A24-13
Sca K113CRB
Pn
As
Pn
C49FT
a First Scotland East (SS) 90147
CH59/16FT
Galleon 2009, Roydon (EX)
C47FT
[Midland Bluebird (SE)]
Full
As with the Basic version above, this publication gives the present known holders of
cherished etc registrations, but with their full details as for the other registration lists.
Because most vehicles have registration histories the full version is a large publication
with well over 600 pages at time of writing. The layout has been altered in the
example below to make it fit this document; the operator is normally shown on the
same line as the vehicle details
PJZ 9455 Vo
ex
PJZ 9461
ex
PJZ 9463
ex
B10M-60 YV31M2A17MA025846 VH
Ae
30692
C70F
3/91 by3/13
Warrington Coachways,Warrington (CH)
A 13 JJN by8/11, H172 DVM 6/08, 14 RED 3/08, H172 DVM 8/04, VIL 4027 1/04, H172 DVM 11/02
Sca K114EB4 YS2K4X20001848831 VH Ae 36099 C49FT
1/05
[Edinburgh Coach Lines, Edinburgh (SS)]
PSU 621 4/11, SN 54 LWT 3/07, 05-D-7792 4/05
Ld ON2R56C16Z4 ON20410
NC
4247
O--/35F
9/92 by9/12 a
Lodge, High Easter (EX)
K110 YVN by9/12
Historical
This publication was added to our range in February 2014. It addresses the difficulty
of matching a cherished registration to the correct vehicle,
The registrations are presented in order in the left hand column. There may be several
vehicles which have held a cherished registration; each is shown on its own line. Next
to the cherished registration is the vehicle’s original registration and date new. Then
come the vehicle basic details, the dates the cherished registration went onto it and
came off it, and finally the registration held by the vehicle at present.
HNZ 3909
HNZ 3909
HNZ 8052
BPF 137Y
R 50 PCE
UIL 932
7/83
10/97
2/02
Ld
Ds
MB
ONTL11/1R
Jv
O814D
Roe
Mpo
KVC
H43/29F
C57F
C24F
9/05
11/10
10/05
11/10
1/06
BPF 137Y
HNZ 3909
02-MO-5222
There have been so many cherished registrations used and reused that this is a large
publication, with over 700 pages at time of writing. It will continue to grow.
Summaries
To summarise the current vehicles of the British Isles we provide six checklists in
registration order. For these lists the British Isles is divided into Southern England
(traffic areas H and K), East Anglia and the Midlands (t/a D and F), Northern England
(t/a B and C), Scotland, Wales, and all of Ireland. A two column per page layout
shows just the chassis and body maker along with the registration and operator.
The example shows three lines extracted from the middle of a page.
MV 55 CXB
MV 55 CXC
MV 55 MMF
Io MinO May Gurney, Lincoln (LI)
Io MinO May Gurney, Lincoln (LI)
Pt
24X7, Elsenham (EX)
| NJ 55 YWR
| NK 55 KBU
| NL 55 ENE
Fd
AD
Fd
Fd
AD
Fd
Cape, Princes Risborough (BK)
Nibsbuses, Wickford (EX) 055
taxi, Basildon (XEX)
We also provide separate summaries which show just the coaches, 20 seats and over,
of all operators in England, Scotland and Wales.
Prices of Summaries vary according to the number of pages.
Fleetlists
We supply geographical fleetlists in A4 format as Standard Publications. They are
available for each county. We use the same county system as the PSV Circle, the
well-known enthusiast organisation. In England the counties by and large follow
traditional boundaries, but Scotland and Wales (Cymru) are each divided into four
'counties' while neither Northern Ireland nor the Irish Republic are divided at all.
Operators are shown in alphabetical order. For each operator, vehicles are shown in
fleet number order if they carry fleet numbers and in registration order otherwise.
Major operators which have significant operations in more than one county are
included in all relevant fleetlist publications.
There are cross-indexes of registration to operator and of fleetname to operator at the
end of each publication.
The example below gives an extract from the Lancashire basic details fleetlist with the
last few vehicles of the Lakeland, Hurst Green fleet shown before the first few of
Lancashire United
YJ 08 NSU
PO 62 KBP
YJ 13 HTT
Vo
MB
VH
B12B
O816D
TX16
VH
Pn
VH
C53F
C30F
C??FT
new
new
new
Lancashire United (LA)
Lancashire United Limited, Prospect Park, Broughton Way, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, HG2
2NY
FN: Lancashire United
OC: Manor Sutton Street, Blackburn [MS]; Intack Garage,
Whitebirk Road, Blackburn, BB1 3JD [IG]; Blackpool, Jackson House, Burton Road,
Blackpool, FY4 4NW [BP]
IG
IG
IG
13
14
15
H546 GKX
H549 GKX
H550 GKX
Ld
Ld
Ld
ON2R50C13Z4
ON2R50C13Z4
ON2R50C13Z4
Ld
Ld
Ld
H47/31F
H47/31F
H47/31F
Transdev Northern Blue (LA) 13
Burnley & Pendle (LA) 14
Burnley & Pendle (LA) 15
Major Group Index by Fleetnumber
This is another publication newly introduced in February 2014. It addresses the
problem of how to find the registration number and operator of, say, a vehicle in
Stagecoach Group colours when only the fleet number has been recorded.
It is laid out in two columns per page and contains two sections. The first covers the
vehicles of the major groups who use a consistent numbering system across fleets, for
instance First, Centrebus, Arriva (North East). Only chassis and body maker are
given. The operator’s allocation code, if known, is shown after the fleet number. A
few lines from the Stagecoach section.
16166
16167
16168
16169
S
RY
LC
LC
R166
R167
R168
R169
HHK
HHK
HHK
HHK
Vo
Vo
Vo
Vo
NC
NC
NC
NC
ZMFIFESOL|
ZDMIDREDS|
ZFLINCSHR|
ZFLINCSHR|
16293
16294
16295
16296
WI
RES
BE
RES
R293
R294
R295
w R296
HCD
HCD
HCD
HCD
Vo
Vo
Vo
Vo
ArB
ArB
ArB
ArB
ZHHAMPBUS
ZCGLENVAL
ZHHAMPBUS
ZKEASKENT
To save space, the operators are shown in abbreviated form consisting of the operator
class (Z for major), a single letter to denote traffic area and a short code, e.g.
MIDREDS = Midland Red South. The second section of the report is an index to the
operators, laid out in the order of these codes and listing their depots.
ZDFLIGHAL
Flights Hallmark Ltd, Flights Coach Station, Long Acre, Aston, Birmingham,
B7 5JJ
OC: 319 Shady Lane, Great Barr, Birmingham, B44 9ER; Castle Lane Industrial Estate,
Melbourne, Derbyshire
FN: Central Connect; Blue Diamond
ZDMIDREDS
Midland Red (South) Limited, Railway Terrace, Rugby, CV21 3HS
OC: Banbury, Canal Street [BY]; Leamington Spa, Station Approach [LN]; Nuneaton,
Newtown Road [NN]; Rugby, Railway Terrace [RY]; Stratford, The Depot, Avenue Farm
Industrial Estate, Avenue Farm Road, Stratford-upon-Avon, CV37 0HS [SD]; Reserve
[RES]; Unallocated [UA]
FN: Stagecoach in Warwickshire; Stagecoach in Banbury
CUSTOMER SPECIFIED PUBLICATIONS
If our Standard Publications do not quite meet your needs, we will gladly quote for an
individual report to your own specification. This may be a variation on one of our
Standard Publications, perhaps containing additional information which we hold. Your
requirement may be quite different in nature, for example the present whereabouts of
all Dennis Darts, or life histories of all vehicles known to have been owned by a
particular operator. We can provide reports on these and many other topics.
If you are interested in historical information, though, please be aware that it has only
been entered into the database since 1985. Any data you want prior to that year, if
held at all, is likely to be incomplete.
To use the service, all you need to do is to describe to us what you want. If you want
your data laid out in table form, for instance as fleetlists or as lists of vehicles
produced by particular manufacturers, we need you to tell us a number of things.
 What information should we select from the database?
 How should we lay out that information in the lines of the report?
 Into what order you would like the data sorted?
We will set the report up for you and will contact you with some sample sheets from it
together with a quotation for the price. If you are satisfied, once we have received
your payment we will print the full report and post it to you.
If you want a report or layout which we have provided in the past as a Standard
Publication but which has been dropped from our current range, it can still be
provided but as a Customer Specified Publication.
For example, if you wish, you can have your basic details registration lists and
fleetlists laid out using two columns per page. We originally supplied them in this
format but changed to the present single column per page layout in response to
requests from many customers for space to write on them. The two column layout
does not give that, but some customers still prefer it.
DELIVERY
Our aim is to fulfil each customer order within a month of receipt, and we will usually
respond well within this time but very seldom within a week. This is because we
normally 'snapshot' the database every 10 days or so and only then process orders
received since the last snapshot. We may deliberately further delay a snapshot if we
know that new material from the input team, which would make the reports more up
to date, is very imminent. If speed of turnround is more important to you than data
which is fully up to date, please let us know when placing your order and we will
process it as rapidly as possible.
QUALITY AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Busdata publications are produced from an active database which covers the whole
country. New material is being entered all the time. This gives you the advantage
that our material is always well up to date, whatever your area of interest. It also
gives the inevitable disadvantage that a very small amount of the data being picked
up will be incorrect due to typing errors etc. These are put right as soon as detected.
Particular thanks are due to the contributors who collect and analyse data from
various sources, make decisions about what to put into the database when sources
differ and carry out compatibility checks.
CONDITIONS OF SUPPLY
While data supplied cannot be guaranteed as correct, you are welcome to use it to
support your own interests. For obvious reasons, it is not permitted for you to copy it
to others or to use it for commercial purposes.
COMMUNICATIONS
We would recommend that you use e-mail ([email protected]) or write to us rather
than using the telephone. E-mail is our preferred method of communication, is given
top priority and we always aim to get a response to you within 24 hours.
Our telephone is not continually manned, particularly out of normal working hours,
and you may find yourself being requested to leave a message on an answerphone.
However we do appreciate that sometimes the telephone is the only practical method
of communication for you and if we are not immediately available when you ring we
will get back to you when in a position to do so.
If you have any comments or questions on our services, please include them with
your next order or write or e-mail separately. We take our customers' comments
seriously, and tailor our services to take account of the opinions you have expressed.
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.busdata.co.uk
Write: Busdata Computing Services, 53 Clumber Avenue, Mapperley, Nottingham,
NG3 5JY.
Phone: 0115-9200714

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